1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oxide target and a method of manufacturing the same, which is used for a laser vapor deposition system, in which a laser beam is irradiated on a target to generate fine particles of an oxide from the surface of the target, and the fine particles are deposited on the surface of a substrate to form an oxide film on the surface of the substrate, thus providing an extending the lifetime of the target.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one example of a target for a vapor deposition system intended for vapor deposition of an oxide on the surface of a substrate, for example, (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H06-2126 discloses a method for bonding a sputtering target material by heating and then cooling a soldering material between a target material and a cooling member made from stainless steel for solder-bonding. In this bonding method, vapor deposition is carried out on the target material and the cooling member to bond stainless steel (which is hereinafter referred to SUS), which is a hard-to-bond material, to a target.
The sputtering target as described in the above-described patent document uses a bonding material for a metal target used for sputter vapor deposition and a metal plate, and is provided with a cooling system. As such, in a case of bonding between materials having good states and properties, particularly, there has been no problem in the target bonding.
The above patent document is a related art concerning a metal target used for a sputtering method, but, as shown in FIG. 1, similar attempts have been also made on an oxide target used for laser vapor deposition as another film forming technique.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for illustrating a laser vapor deposition system using a conventional oxide target, wherein a symbol 1 denotes an oxide target, a symbol 2 denotes an Ag vapor-deposited film, a symbol 3 denotes an In soldering, a symbol 4 denotes a Cu-fixed plate, a symbol 5 denotes a SUS holder, a symbol 6 denotes a heater box, symbols 7 and 8 denote reels, a symbol 9 denotes a tape substrate, a symbol 10 denotes a plume, and a symbol 11 denotes a laser beam. In this laser vapor deposition system, a tape substrate 9 is disposed between the reels 7 and 8 in the heater box 6. In this laser vapor deposition system, the laser beam 11 is irradiated on the target 1 disposed under the heater box 6 to generate oxide fine particles from the surface of the oxide target 1 while the oxide target 1 is being moved in one direction. As a rest the fine particles are deposited on the surface of the substrate of the oxide target 1 to form an oxide film on the surface of the substrate. As used herein, the structure of the oxide target 1 is such that the Cu-fixed plate 4, the In soldering 3, the Ag vapor-deposited film 2, and the oxide target 1 are bonded in is order onto the SUS holder 5, which can be cooled by circulating cooling water.
However, in a case where the oxide target 1 described above is used, there are problems in that the oxide target 1 is easily cleaved, and that cleavage or cracks easily occur due to the dramatic change in temperatures, or the like. Furthermore, since wettability of both materials with the oxide target 1 and the Ag vapor-deposited film 2 is poor, the oxide target 1 is peeled off from the body of the target, thereby leading to a problem in that film formation could not be stably carried out for a long period of time.
The present invention has been made taking the above-described problems into consideration, and thus it is an object thereof to provide an oxide target for laser vapor deposition and a method of manufacturing the same that is capable of stably carrying out film formation by extending the lifetime of a target in the oxide target used for the laser vapor deposition system.